Phone or computer: which to make your first game for

Which device should your first game be for, phone or computer?

The one where a small game gets finished sooner. The phone is the biggest games market in the world, and it is also where competition is fiercest. Computers have stores with a free way in. And for anyone using Godot, a free program for making games, the same project can become a phone version and a computer version.

This page is about the device the game will be played on, and the store it will go into. If your question is whether you can make the game using only your phone, the answer is in can you make a game with AI using only your phone.

Prices as of October 2026.

Think of someone who grew up playing on the living room TV, controller in hand. When they picture their own game, that is where it shows up. But players and money moved to the device in your pocket, and that is also where the line of new games grows fastest. So the question that decides a first game is a different one: what size of game you can finish, and on which device it gets done first (our reading).

Where is the money in games today?

On phones, by a wide margin. Newzoo, a company that tracks the games market, forecasts that the world will spend $213.9 billion on games in 2026, up 6.1% in a year¹. Of that total, $121.1 billion is mobile games, more than half¹.

Console gets $46.9 billion and computers $45.9 billion¹. Together they add up to $92.8 billion: less than phones alone (our math).

In number of people, the gap is even bigger. By the same forecast, 3.7 billion people play in the world; 3.1 billion play on phones, 977 million on computers, and about 651 million on consoles¹. One person can play on more than one device, so the parts add up to more than the total.

By the numbers

These numbers have two limits. They are a forecast, made in August 2026, and may be revised. And the size of the market is the sum of what all games sell: it doesn't say how much a new game will sell.

And in Brazil, which device do people play on?

Also the phone. In the Pesquisa Game Brasil 2026 survey, which heard from 7,115 people aged 16 to 55, the phone was the favorite device of 44.1% of people who play, console of 24%, and computer of 21.1%². These are the people surveyed, not all Brazilians.

Among phones in Brazil, Android dominates. According to StatCounter, a company that measures system usage, in September 2026 Android had 78.78% of phone usage in Brazil, and iPhone 21.21%³.

That matters in one practical detail. Google Play, the Android store, requires a new personal account to test the game with at least 12 people for 14 days in a row before launching⁷. With Android close to four out of five in phone usage, finding those 12 among friends and relatives in Brazil tends to be easier (our reading).

If phones are the biggest market, why aren't they the obvious choice?

Because a big market attracts too many people, and the money stays with a few. 181,000 mobile games were released in six months, through May 2026, according to ATTN Economy, a research firm cited by Digital Today, a South Korean newspaper⁴. In one year, releases rose 118% on iPhone and 73% on Android, and the report ties this rise to AIs that write code⁴.

The money didn't keep up. According to Naavik, which analyzes the games market, the number of games that reached $20,000 in revenue grew only 14% from December 2025 to February 2026⁴. And the same ATTN Economy calculated that about 80% of app downloads in the world go to the top 1% of companies, which also take most of the revenue⁴. That figure is for apps in general, not only games.

How phones make money also matters. According to Sensor Tower, with data from 19 countries, the share of mobile games that make money from ads went from 45.1% in July 2021 to 55.6% in May 2026⁵. A game that lives on ads needs a lot of people playing to earn anything, and your first game competes for that attention with games that already have millions of players (our reading).

On computers, the line is long too. On Steam, the biggest store for computer games, many new games are barely played: the numbers are in are there too many games already. Competition exists on both devices. What changes is its size.

What does each store cost and ask for?

Putting the game on phones costs from $25, and on computers it can cost nothing. The table shows the four most common ways in, with prices as of October 2026.

Google Play is the cheapest way onto phones. The fee is for the developer account and is paid one time only⁶. What takes time is the test with 12 people. The whole path is in how to publish a game on Google Play.

iPhone costs every year and requires a Mac. Apple's developer program costs $99 a year⁸, and Godot's documentation says the iPhone version only comes from a computer running macOS with Xcode installed¹².

Steam charges per game. It is $100 per game, which comes back in your payout once the game passes $1,000 in adjusted revenue⁹.

itch.io is the way in with no fee. itch.io is a games site where anyone can publish, and it charges nothing to use¹⁰. The person publishing chooses what share of sales goes to the site, in what it calls open revenue sharing¹⁰. It accepts games that run in the browser, with nothing to install¹¹.

Do I have to pick only one device?

In the program, no; in your head, yes (our reading). Godot, the program where the game is built (what the field calls a game engine), has a button that produces, all at once, versions of the game for every device you have set up¹⁵. Each device needs extra tools installed¹⁵, and the iPhone one still requires a Mac¹².

There is also a middle path: the browser game. It opens on a web page, without going through any store¹³. It runs on computers and, according to Godot's documentation, also on phones, with some caveats¹³. The version made for the device always runs better, by a significant margin, and the documentation recommends browsers such as Chrome or Firefox, because Safari, Apple's browser, has problems with the graphics part these games use¹³. On itch.io, the person publishing marks whether the game works on phones¹¹.

But a game designed for a finger and a game designed for a keyboard differ in controls, button size, and screen orientation (our reading). It can come out on both, but the game turns out better when it is designed for one of them first.

What kind of game fits each device?

On phones, simple touch games and short rounds; on computers, games that call for keyboard, mouse, and more time sitting down. This is our reading, based on how each device is used, not a store rule.

• Phone: one hand only, tap or swipe, upright screen, rounds of a few minutes that fit in a line at the bank. Puzzles, one-touch games, and endless runners.
• Computer: two controls at once (walk and jump, aim and shoot), big screen, longer rounds. Obstacle-jumping games, strategy games, and story games.

Notice that the simplest types to make live, to a large extent, on phones (our reading). Examples of each, with what they require, are in what your first game should be.

Does the device you already have change the choice?

It does, a lot. With a Windows computer, you can make games for Android, for the browser, and for Steam; for iPhone, no, because the iPhone version only comes from a Mac¹².

Your phone counts too. To test an Android game, Godot sends the game to a phone connected to the computer by cable, or over Wi-Fi, with one click; a browser game opens right in the computer's browser¹⁴. And Google Play requires a new personal account to confirm access to an Android phone, through the Play Console app⁶.

In practice: someone with a Windows computer and an Android phone has the Android, browser, and Steam doors open without buying another device (our reading). Someone with only an iPhone and Windows can start with the browser or the computer, and leave iPhone for when they have a Mac. To find out whether your machine can handle it, see whether your computer is good enough to make games.

So, where do you start?

With the size of the game, and then the device. A one-screen game that you can finish teaches more than a huge game stuck halfway, on any device (our reading).

With the small game defined, the choice usually falls into one of these cases:

• You have an Android phone and know 12 people with Android: phone, through Google Play, counting on the 14 days of testing.
• You want to show the game soon, without paying a fee: browser, through itch.io, which opens on computers and, with caveats, on phones.
• You dream of Steam: computer, knowing about the $100 per game and the 30-day wait.
• You want iPhone: only with a Mac and $99 a year.

The living room TV can wait. The right device for a first game is the one where it reaches the end.

The other side

None of these numbers says how much your game will earn. Phones are the biggest market, but their money stays with a few games and a few companies, and the line of releases grows faster than the line of games that make money. Newzoo's numbers are a forecast. A browser game runs worse on a phone than the version made for it. Stores change fees and rules from time to time. And picking the right device doesn't make anyone find your game: no one can promise you will get rich.

Your action plan

Check off what you've done. It's saved on this device, so you can pick up where you left off.

1. Write down which system your phone and your computer use: Android, iPhone, Windows, or Mac.
2. Cross off the stores where you can't publish yet with what you have, such as iPhone without a Mac.
3. Write in one sentence what the player does with a finger or with the keyboard in your game.
4. Choose one main device for your first game, even if it comes out on others later.
5. If you choose Android, make a list of 12 people with Android phones who would agree to test the game for 14 days.
6. If you choose the browser, open itch.io and play three browser games on your computer and on your phone.
7. Download Godot from the official site, which is free.